Sub menu

Girls Rule by Sarah Forbes (An Elspeth Hart books guest blog)

In the past year, one trilogy has generated more excitement in my primary school library clubs than any other, and that’s the Elspeth Hart series. In 2015, for my summer reading list I suggested Elspeth Hart and the School for Show-Offs, a tale of orphan Elspeth who works as a servant in the Pandora Pants School for Show-Offs, sweeping up mouse-droppings and dodging stuck up horrid students. Comic fun, school setting, feisty heroine. Sparkling with wit and personality. So I’m delighted to welcome author Sarah Forbes onto the blog with a guest post today. And after her post, you can read my review of the third and final book, Elspeth Hart and the Magnificent Rescue, publishing April 7 2016.

I wanted to talk a little bit today about how much I enjoyed writing the feisty female characters in the Elspeth Hart books. I truly didn’t set out to do this, but in the first novel, Elspeth Hart and the School for Show-offs, I ended up with a strong heroine (Elspeth) a very nasty pair of female cooks (Miss Crabb and Gladys Goulash) and then a clique of rather evil schoolgirls (Tatiana Firensky, Esmerelda Higginsbot and Octavia Ornamento). The male characters all turned out a bit less tough: Professor Bombast, the headmaster, is silly and easily led, and Rory, Elspeth’s best friend, is much more timid and anxious than Elspeth.

The theme continued in the sequel, Elspeth Hart and the Perilous Voyage, where we met gung-ho Cassie, who helped Elspeth and Rory defeat Crabb and Goulash while on a massive cruise ship travelling to New York. And in the third and final book, Elspeth Hart and the Magnificent Rescue, we head to Australia, where we meet Uma Gumboots, a fearsome woman who runs rings around Rory’s butler, Mr Tunnock. Uma is a big tough woman who runs a nature reserve, and she likes crocodiles more than people. She was so much fun to write, and the illustrations James Brown created made me laugh out loud. James and I also thought it would be funny to give fastidious Mr Tunnock a kind of jokey love interest, and at the end of Magnificent Rescue, we’re left wondering if Mr Tunnock will stay with Uma Gumboots in Australia. Could there be love on the horizon? We’ll never know…

Isn’t it fun to write (and read about) strong women, good ones and bad ones? I do think there’s a really long lineage of impressive female protagonists in children’s literature, but it is curious that I ended up with most of the main players in my books being women. Without planning to at all, I seem to have sidelined the blokes or made them a bit inept and bumbling (sorry, chaps!).

It feels strange saying goodbye to Elspeth Hart but the third book ties up her adventures (no spoilers, in case anyone reading this wants to read it!). It’s been a blast writing Elspeth over the last few years, and having the books illustrated by James Brown was a joy. I’ll be squeezing in as many school visits and readings as I can this summer, because meeting readers is one of the very best things about being an author.

And then, it’s time to think of new projects… which is always fun. At some point I will work on a book with a male protagonist who kicks ass… truly, I will!

But until then, I’m quite enjoying having girls rule the world.

With thanks to Sarah.

MinervaReads review of Elspeth Hart and the Magnificent Rescue by Sarah Forbes, illustrated by James Brown

Our feisty heroine Elspeth is on her final quest to be reunited with her parents. The only problem is that her parents have themselves been duped into looking for her in the depths of the Australian rainforest. And the dastardly and despicable Miss Crabb and Gladys Goulash are on the trail too because they still want to steal Elspeth’s top-secret family recipe for sticky toffee sauce.

Elspeth has her trusty friend Rory to help her, and some other helpful friends she gathers along the way, but unfortunately for her, she gathers some enemies too. And in the setting of a wild rainforest with crocodiles and spiders, what could possibly go wrong?

It’s easy to see why this series captures children’s imaginations and why it’s so wildly popular. It’s a page turning adventure with a determined heroine, who shows quick-wittedness, gumption and grit, surrounded by other smart children and not so smart adults. There’s also a healthy dose of hilarious and eccentric villainy comparable with the best of Roald Dahl.

The adventures are slightly quirky, and yet not so wacky that there isn’t an intensity of emotion too. The reader positively roots for Elspeth all the way through, whilst admiring her sensitivity and quick-thinking. The story isn’t too long – and punctuated with powerful and detailed illustrations that capture the children’s emotions.

But above all the writing is fun, cheeky and punchy:

“We’re not eating anybody, you nincompoop!” Miss Crabb said. She did a little dance of rage.
“Enough of your stupid ideas. You’re only here to carry my stuff.”

With unexpected twists, lots of fun, and above all heart, this is a superb little series for 7+yrs. Buy the latest book here.